De los dos…

Anyway, this morning I wrote about literacy and that has stuck with me the entire day. Then, as I was listening to a playlist I have, I realized most of my songs were in Spanish. It’s a great honor that I can be part of this musical culture, but I want to talk about it a little more than that.

I am American, as is rather obvious from the lack of “u” in words like “favor” and the way I spell “yogurt” and “theater”. But I am also Russian and Irish and English because of my heritage. I do, however, have one tiny portion of my family from Panama.

I took 4 years of Spanish in high school, with a woman whom I can only describe as Spanish, made of American parts. She loved teaching and speaking the language and wanted to retire to Spain. It was her passion that really drew me into the language. In college I took a couple more classes and my playlists got longer.

I haven’t gotten to practice it in a while, mostly I brush up by going to Walmart and listening to whatever conversations there are (but don’t tell anyone!). But I think there’s something exceptionally emotional about the words of Spanish music. For blogging purposes, I’m only going to use two songs, but trust me when I say that I have PLENTY more examples. Also, in the interest of fairness, I’m going to try to use songs from the same time period (hopefully year), so that there isn’t a weird pop culture difference (other than language). I know this will be biased regardless, but here goes.

Song: Sexy and I Know It, LMFAO

“When I walk on by, girls be looking like damn he fly

I pimp to the beat,

Walking on the street with in my new lafreak, yeah

This is how I roll, animal print, pants out control,

This is red foo with the big afro

It’s like Bruce Lee rock at the club.”
Song: Llovera, Mia Maestro

“Llovera, gotas mínimas (It will rain, tiny drops)

Lloverá, de mi boca, (It will rain from my mouth)

Saldrá el mar (The sea will pour out.)

No, no, Romeo, no,
No, no, me dejes (ver) (No, no, don’t let me see)

Tu vida fue gestada ya… (Your life has already been gestated (lived))

Lloverá, caudales de agua, (It will rain, flows of water)

Agua lisa, (Smooth water)

Lloverá, desde mis ojos.” (It will rain, from my eyes.)
These are both from 2011, the year I graduated from high school. Of course, I picked two extremes, and I have loads of songs from that year that I hold dear (in English). But I do think that just the way life themes are expressed (like love and death and life) are put more emotionally and eloquently in Spanish.

With that being said, Dimelo by Enrique Iglesias and Nina Bonita by Chino y Nacho are probably my favorite songs, but we’ll hold that for another day. The whole point was: I REALLY enjoy being able to look into another culture and enjoy it fully, without reservation because I can understand the language. Language is the key.